by Brad Warner

I missed Canada Day by a few days. So here’s wishing all you Americans out there a happy Fourth of July. The earliest Fourth of July I have any clear memory of was probably 1973 or ’74 in Nairobi. We went to the American embassy — the same one that al Quaeda blew up many year later — and hung out with bunches of other American ex-pats who lived in Kenya at the time. My mom and dad weren’t much for hanging out exclusively with other Americans, as were many of the Americans who lived there. So I can’t remember ever seeing any of those people again. But they had fireworks and watermelon and hot dogs. I remember learning that the closest equivalent to a hot dog you could get in Kenya was a Vienna sausage and that they were not pre-cooked as were the ones you got in the States. So you couldn’t just go into the ‘fridge, grab a hot dog and eat it cold.

When I lived in Japan I never bothered with any of the Fourth of July celebrations put on by the embassy. I tended to avoid contact with most Americans living there since they were generally kind of disgusting people. Loud, obnoxious, drunk. Wooo-hoooo!!! Look at me!!!! I can drink beer on the street and make a lot of noise!!!!!! Nobody stops me!!!!! Yacccccchhhhhhhh!!!!

Not my kind of crowd, really.

The Fourth of July before I went to Japan, which must’ve been 1992, I was attacked on the street for no reason. That kinda made me decide it was time to get out of the country.

Today I’m s’posta go to my friend Greg’s swimming pool in North Hollywood and hang around. That sounds like fun.

When I went to Japan I was completely disgusted with the USA and wanted nothing to do with it ever again. Now I don’t feel like that. The USA has some good points. For one thing you can eat hot dogs right out of the ‘fridge. Though I don’t eat hot dogs anymore and I guess it wouldn’t matter if you ate a raw soy dog anyway.

Interesting diff between Japan and America: In Japan, fireworks displays are an on-going thing all Summer long. Sometimes they’re tied in with holidays like O-bon. But sometimes they just decide to have one on some random weekend night. But over here we only do fireworks on one particular day.

The graphic today is from a CD I bought yesterday by a local Los Angeles experimental duo called “ing”. Apparently they put out a new CD every month. I love the cover of this one and bought it having no idea what the music would be like. I still haven’t listened to it.

41 Responses

A tax cut caused the Revolution!Everything was relatively peaceful until 1773. The British East India Company (a large Multi-National Corporation) was seeing profits squeezed, partially due to competition. The East India Company convinced Parliament to refund the duty tax on the tea to the East India Company, thus enabling them to charge less for their product than their Dutch competitors. Unfair competition!

So Americans threw the Brits, their Multi-National Corporation, their Church, and the Loyalists OUT!!!

rich white guys didn’t want to pay taxesthat was thenstill holds trueback then their ‘reasoning’ was No Taxation without Representation

I say I don’t mind giving money to help fund services that benefit us all–I just want to be able to choose which of the many possible places it might go to.

I say No Taxation without Designation!!

I’ll list my choices by priority, and by percentage of my tax total. Let’s all do that, what do you think?It’s an effective way to vote with our dollars: It wouldn’t take that long for the things we really want to be fully funded.

We just have to designate where we want that hard earned money of ours to go when Uncle Sam takes that slice out of our pie.

Since it’s the anniversary of the American Revolution, I thought it would be appropriate to quote another revolutionary, Karl Marx:

Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.

I’m back from a computer conference last week and it confirms what I think is the difference between a good and bad teacher. A bad teacher will tell you all about the fish they’ve caught. A good teacher will tell you how to catch a fish yourself.

This isn’t really relevant to the post at hand, but I just wanted to say that I was excited when I ran into Borders yesterday to escape a rainstorm and found several copies of your new book up on the shelf.

I honestly wasn’t really expecting you to write another book after Hardcore Zen, so I was definitely greeted by a colorful surprise. I’m about 50 pages in so far and I definitely feel like it was a worthy followup.

I must say the American experiment, truly revolutionary at the time, needs an overhaul today.

The consent of the people, to be governed , has been turned over to the few, political quasi-corporations that we call parties and their lobbying, pocket-lining, what can you do for me members.

The rest of “us” watch from the sidelines hoping that our furrowed brows and blog posts will catch their notice and that “they” will have a sudden turn of heart and actually represent us and our best interests.

Happy Fourth of July, dollinks! As far as I can tell, no place near Sherman Oaks is doing fireworks tonight, so I think I’m just gonna have some iced tea and pizza and watch a movie with the husband. Hope you all enjoy your evenings!

getting ready myself to enjoy me some fireworks here in Japan and maybe a tofu-dog..i must say the fireworks here KICK ARSE. And right on point with the loud obnoxious Americans over here, but some are not so annoying. I find drunk Australians to be much more so, albiet funnier!

For sure. Pardoning criminals (Libby); tearing up subpeonas, torturing people while a milquetoast Congress sighs heavily and looks cross. Thye can’t seem to even impeach Gonzo, who is disliked even by Republicans.

And, across “the pond” truly evil psychopaths try to blow up London so their leaders can destabilize (further) the Middle East and grab that Black Gold everybody seems willing to fight to the death over….

My local 4th celebrations are very low key, and non-“Rah-Rah”. I had a good day

What is Independence Day? Is that the American version of Canada Day? (A little inside joke that Canadians might appreciate.)

BTW, if your forefathers had just waited 90 years, they would have received their independence without a fight just like my Canadian forefathers. Word is that the Brits couldn’t leave fast enough because they were bored with our terminal blandness.

Watched Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II last night. My fiance kept yelling, “YESSSSSSSS!” at the awesomeness that is Mechagodzilla. But then she started “awwwww”ing because poor Godzilla only wanted her baby. And Rodan helps G! We can all learn a lesson there!

And, across “the pond” truly evil psychopaths try to blow up London so their leaders can destabilize (further) the Middle East and grab that Black Gold everybody seems willing to fight to the death over….

It couldn’t possibly be that the Big Wig Richy-McRich countries who divided up the Middle East (and Africa, coincidentally) might be the cause of atleast some of the social unrest…No, it’s got to be that those damned fundamentalist Muslims are starting trouble because they’re greedy. Yeah that’s it. Forget fueds older than the Bible, it’s definitely oil!

If we spent more time and money helping the homeless, starving, and illiterate in America instead of killing the homeless, starving, and illiterate in Iraq then we might be in a better place to play Global Police. But as it stands now we’re traveling the world slapping dictators on the wrist for wanting to join in the arms race that we began and continue to perpetuate.

The precepts, which you’re referring to, are meant as guidelines to avoid situations that pretty much always generate suffering for you or others. They aren’t commandments, and sometimes it is the right thing to do NOT to follow them. As for your issue with people following the “easy” precept of not drinking while ignoring the one about boning, that’s not really the case. The precepts in question are to 1.) Abstain from intoxication and 2.)Abstain from misusing sexuality.

They aren’t absolutes. There is nothing wrong with a Buddhist taking her boyfriend out to dinner, having a glass of wine, then going back to their apartment and playing walk-the-midget with his cigar-vendor. The precepts reflect the over-all message of Buddhism, and that’s the MIDDLE WAY. Drinking is fine, so long as you don’t get so plastered that you make shitty decisions. Sex is fine, so long as you don’t get so obsessed with it that you make shitty decisions. It’s all about moderation.

Also, different things are easier and harder for different people. I have a hard time not drinking because I used to have an alcohol problem. I find it much easier not to slander than I do not to get fucked up. So watch what you call easy, please ! 🙂 We’ve all got our struggles

>>Mysterion

We also share about 50% of our genes with bananas, so don’t get too excited.

i recall a talk to a buddhist nun about wine. she said that its generally bad. i asked her how drinking no wine could be a middle may. she said “the middle way is only a state of mind”. and i was not relating to being totally drunk every other day.

must be the same like the old-school tradition of eating only one meal a day, having no possesions, well read the whole vinaya pitaka… and THEN calling that non-ascetic and middle way. ROFL. yes, compared to starving yaself to death and cutting your limbs it is probably luxury…

individual results may vary -addiction shows in many ways. i have friends with alcohol problems. i do understand. i apologize for my “easy” statement.

but jared, so you give buddhism a new interpretation. thats beautiful. so do i. but is this the buddhist tradition anymore?

how can i help people if i dont know and live at the dark sides of the world? i have to avoid to get sucked in personally, YES INDEED, but i have to sleep with the devil.saving pretentious holy people is a job for lazy moralists. theyd better go watch the life earth stream and pay for co2 indulgence.

but jared, so you give buddhism a new interpretation. thats beautiful. so do i. but is this the buddhist tradition anymore?

There are millions of people who practice something they call Buddhism but that has nothing to do with what Gotama Buddha supposedly taught. Is that the Buddhist tradition? Who knows. Who cares? Call what I practice Buddhism, call it anything you like. The practice is what is important, not the name.

Also, what Gotama taught wasn’t messianic, it was proselytistic. The difference being that the former intends to save while the latter intends to inform. The way you can help people, Anony, is by sitting. As cheesey as it sounds, you gotta be like The Shadow: “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?” Buddhists do! You don’t have to sleep with the devil because all that’s “good” and “evil” with the world is inside every human being. Once you see it in yourself you can know better how to help others with it.

Jesus taught to those that society rejected. Buddha taught to anyone who would listen.

not being part of a self-identifying tradition makes it harder to get summarized within the terms of buddhism after all.i guess i should stop refering to buddha after all, still i refer to the scriptures every now and then.

i feel a little puzzled that you imply i dont sit or dont know what its merits (or whatever super-non-dualistic readers will call it) are, but anyway, i agree also in this regard.

there is no objection to what you say, its just meaning you give to my words that might sound like a conflict. sleeping with the devil is exactly what you are talking about. metaphors. symbols. words.

still, i dwell in rotten cadavers and drink whiskey with them. am i free to call that buddhism?

no historian battle, but both religion founders had both, people out of society and from within.

You can call whatever you want Buddhism. We call my uncle Larry and his name is actually Todd. But that doesn’t make him Larry. Or, to get metaphysical, because society dictates what is and what isn’t (in the eyes of the people in that society), it DOES make him Larry, but it does not change the truth of his being. Shuh-SHAW!

I wasn’t trying to imply that you don’t sit, or that you don’t know the benefits of it. I was just saying that you don’t need to go out on a mission to help other people. It starts with you.